By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, November 12

Details
When	Thursday-Sunday
Course	Valderrama Golf Club, Sotogrande, Spain
Par/Yardage	Par 72; 6,974 yards
Purse	$5 million (Winner: $1 million)
1999 champion	Tiger Woods
Tournament record	6-under 278 (Tiger Woods, 1999; Miguel Angel Jimenez, 1999)
Television	Thursday-Friday: noon-5 p.m. ET (ESPN) Saturday: 4:30-7 p.m. ET (ABC) Sunday: 1:30-6 p.m. ET (ESPN)

The tournament

	Hole by hole
	Hole	Par	Yards
	1	4	389
	2	4	421
	3	3	187
	4	5	564
	5	4	381
	6	3	163
	7	5	533
	8	4	351
	9	4	441
	Out	36	3430
	10	4	390
	11	5	547
	12	3	197
	13	4	403
	14	4	370
	15	3	225
	16	4	422
	17	5	536
	18	4	454
	In	36	3544
	Total	72	6974

Most players on the PGA Tour have put away their clubs for the season, but several have one more week to go with plenty on the line at the third World Golf Championship event of the season.

Although more than a dozen of the top players have opted not to travel to Spain for the American Express Championship, 55 golfers will tee it up on Thursday in search of the $1 million first prize. That could mean a lot to a handful of players.

For Tiger Woods, who beat Miguel Angel Jimenez on the first hole of sudden death to win last year, a victory would make him the first player to earn $10 million in one season. It would also mark his 10th victory of the season, which would make him the first player since Sam Snead in 1950 to reach double digits in wins.

Woods can also set a new PGA Tour record for scoring average, which should be a simple goal. Woods needs to finish no worse than 8-over this week to set the scoring mark. And he also is trying to complete an entire season without finishing over par in a tournament.

But Woods isn't the only one with goals on the line. The event marks the final stop on the European Tour schedule this year, and six players still have a shot at the Order of Merit. Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood are the frontrunners, but Clarke, Westwood, Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn can all win the title with a victory this week.

In addition, Michael Campbell and Colin Montgomerie can win the Order of Merit if they win the tournament and those above them fail to play well.

The odds are almost impossible for Montgomerie, which means an end to his seven-year run as Europe's top player.

One other player with plenty on the line this week is Joe Ozaki, who needs to play well to retain his PGA Tour playing card for next season. Ozaki, who got into the event based on his World Ranking and status on the Japan Tour, is a full member of the PGA Tour and if fighting to reach the top 125 on the money list to retain those privileges for 2001.

Ozaki enters the week 128th, about $35,000 behind No. 125 Joey Sindelar. He would need to finish in the top 41 in the 55-player field to earn enough to catch Sindelar.

Because of the poor scheduling of this event, Sindelar has no choice but to sit and wait. Instead of allowing the Tour Championship and Southern Farm Bureau Classic to finish the season, the WGC event takes the final spot on the schedule for the second year in a row.

That will change next year when the American Express Championship moves to September and moves to St. Louis. That should guarantee most of the top Americans of playing, but could limit the top Europeans. They will already be traveling to the United States for the PGA Championship and NEC Invitational in August and for the Ryder Cup in October.

This year, however, the American Express is at Valderrama for the second consecutive year. And that's another reason many of the top Americans chose not to come. Valderrama left a bad taste in their mouths with the 1997 Ryder Cup defeat.

Next week, the Silly Season begins in full force with Greg Norman's Shark Shootout. That is followed by the Skins Game and the Williams World Challenge, the event organized by Woods.